AMHERST, Mass. - The No. 11 University of Massachusetts men's lacrosse team netted a 12-6 victory over Hartford at Garber Field on Saturday afternoon through a balanced attack as eight Minutemen combined to produce the 12 UMass goals. Connor Mooney paced the offense with six points on a pair of tallies and four assists while Nick Mariano added four points through three goals and one helper.

Grant Whiteway secured two goals while Ryan Curley and Vincent Travaglini earned a pair of points through a goal and assist each. Grant Consoletti, Robert Lynott and Matt Whippen found the back of the Hartford cage once apiece to complete scoring for Massachusetts.

Kevin O'Shea led Hartford (4-4 overall) with three goals and an assist as the only Hawk to record more than one point against the Minuteman defense.

James Fahey led the defensive efforts through three caused turnovers and as many groundballs as UMass (7-2) limited the Hawks to just one fourth-quarter tally after Hartford tied the game at 5-5 with five minutes, 19 seconds left in the third.

Andrew Cacchio scored for Hartford to even the game at five, but a quintet of Minutemen followed with six consecutive goals combined to put UMass ahead, 11-5 with 8:35 remaining.
Curley started the streak with his first collegiate goal, which was scored unassisted with 3:18 left in the third stanza. Curley then facilitated Mooney's first strike of the day at the two-minute mark before Sokol fired in an attempt only 46 seconds later to move the Minutemen in front, 8-5.

Mariano scored on back-to-back chances for UMass to extended the lead to 10-5 with 13:33 remaining to play. Mooney found Mariano at the doorstep for the first of the pair, which was earned with only six seconds to play in the third. Mariano completed his hat trick only 1:57 into the fourth quarter before Whiteway struck five minutes later on a feed from Mariano to cap the six-goal run.

Henderson broke the UMass scoring streak with Hartford's final tally of the day at the 7:37 mark, but Mooney hit with 2:35 left to suppress the rally attempt and double the Minuteman lead to 12-6.

Massachusetts scored the first three goals of the day, with Lynott, Mariano and Whippen teaming up to provide the Maroon and White with a 3-0 lead. However, Hartford struck twice in the second with goals from Conner Yatauro and O'Shea to drop the visitor's deficit to 3-2 at the half.

Whiteway rippled the twine to double the UMass advantage to 4-2 only 62 seconds into the third; however, Hartford tallied three of the next four goals to even the game up. O'Shea earned his 20th of the season to draw the Hawks within one before Consoletti responded for the Minutemen to make it 5-3 at the 9:19 mark of the second. O'Shea then answered for Hartford ahead of Cacchio's lone goal of the contest to even play at five.

UMass generated more shots, 38-28 and scooped up 30 groundballs to 22 grabbed by Hartford. Massachusetts finished 14-of-21 on faceoffs due to Joe Calvello's strong second half at the X. Calvello started the game just 3-of-7 on faceoffs before bouncing back to end the day with 14 victories due to his 11-of-14 performance over the third and fourth quarters.

The Minutemen were perfect on clear attempts at 12-for-12 while Hartford finished 14-for-15. UMass is 26-for-26 on clears in the last two games and 45-of-46 (97.8 percent) over the most recent three contests, dating back to the win at No. 5 Penn State.

Frank Piechota made 14 saves against 12 goals allowed over 57:25 in the cage for the Hawks. Dan Zenevitch replaced him in the fourth and closed out the final 2:35 of regulation without facing a shot.

Zach Oliveri started and earned the win in goal for UMass on the strength of seven saves, including five in the second half. Reed Goodhue took over with 2:12 remaining and did not face a Hartford shot.

The Minutemen return to conference play when they host Towson (6-2, 0-0) on April 5 for a Noon contest.